Edward Orton, the first president of Ohio State University, wasn’t the Board of Trustees’ first
choice or even its second, and there is no official record of his being offered the job.

On Oct. 10, 1872, the board voted to offer the $3,500-a-year post to Sen. James W. Patterson of
New Hampshire. It was a decision the board quickly came to regret.

“He apparently was receptive, but almost at once there was strong criticism, seemingly because
the Trustees went outside the state for a president and perhaps because Patterson was active in
politics,” James E. Pollard wrote in his 1952
History of the Ohio State University.

T.C. Mendenhall, one of the university’s first professors, later recounted, “Within a week after
the election of the first members of the first faculty, by an extraordinary combination of events,
some of which were far from pleasant, Sen. Patterson, whose election to the presidency had been the
cause of much rejoicing, became persona non grata to the trustees, but he promptly relieved them
from embarrassment by declining the proffered honor.” Board of Trustees Secretary Joseph Sullivant’s
annual report notes: “Circumstances rendered the appointment impolitic and improper,” and
Patterson, exhibiting “a proper manliness,” declined the post.

Patterson was the board’s second choice. The first apparently turned the job down.

Sullivant’s report also referred to the board’s first choice, but only as “a distinguished
citizen of Ohio.” However, the board on March, 10, 1871, formed a committee to sound out Gen. Jacob
D. Cox, Ohio’s governor from 1866 to 1867, about the job.

In the end, the board settled on Orton, who at the time was president of Antioch College.
Mendenhall wrote: “Dr. Orton was induced to assume the responsibility of the presidency, to which
was attached the Chair of Geology. Curiously enough, there is no record in the Proceedings of the
Trustees of his election or his acceptance, but there is good reason to believe it occurred in May
1873.”

Suggestions for Mileposts that will run this bicentennial year can be sent to Gerald Tebben,
Box 82125, Columbus, OH 43202, or email gtebben@columbus.rr.com.